Local information about Breckenridge and Summit county real estate and information about what's going on in the County.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Breckenridge Snow sculpting Contest

It all started with the toss of a coin in the
office. Heads, they would compete in the Ullr Fest snow-sculpting contest.
Tails, they would build a float for the parade. The coin came up heads.

The year was 1980, and the group of realtors built their first
competitive snow sculpture using what was then an additive process, where snow
is piled up to create the sculpture instead of cut away from a preformed block.
And they won — that year, and the next and the next.

Then in 1985, while
they were sculpting a piece showing Prince Charming bending over Sleeping Beauty
to give her a kiss, a man stopped by to ask if they'd considered taking their
talent to nationals. “We didn't know there was a whole worldwide community of
snow artists out there,” said team member Rob Neyland. “Right then and there I
knew that we had to make that a Breckenridge event.”

And so the group
embarked on a lengthy process to put Breckenridge on the snow-sculpting map.
They worked with the town, the resort and other local groups to found and host
the Colorado state championships while at the same time making a name for their
team on the national and international stages.

Today, the fruits of
their labor take the form of the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture
Championships, which draws teams from around the world and upwards of 32,000
guests each year, braving sometimes subzero temperatures to witness the
awe-inspiring and otherworldly manifestations come to life in snow.

And
Breckenridge is now officially on the map, known internationally as one of the
premier snow sculpting venues in the world.

The process

The event takes place in
stages. First, Breckenridge Ski Resort makes the snow, which is hauled by dump
truck to the site by the Town of Breckenridge Public Works Department. Front-end
loaders and a huge snow blower transfer the snow into wooden molds, alternating
with volunteer human laborers, who jump in, stomp the snow to pack it down, and
jump out to wait for the next layer.

This is how the 10x10x12-foot
starting blocks are created.

Sculpting commences this year at 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 22 with a shotgun start and ends 65 hours later at 10 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26.

Sculptors work with hand tools such as vegetable
peelers, small saws and chicken wire to cut away snow and render their designs;
no power tools or colorants are allowed. Participants often leave support beams
in place until the last night and then remove them hoping the sculptures
maintain their structural integrity, Neyland said.

Sculptures do
collapse — like in 1988 at nationals, held at the Milwaukee Zoo, when the
Breckenridge team's piece deconstructed 20 minutes before judging. Still, the
weather and snow conditions in Breckenridge make this less likely to occur here
than in other locales, Neyland said.

“I think that it's important to note
the subtractive nature of this art form,” he added. “It makes it challenging.
And literally it is a performing art. Think of it as very slow theater — because
you are performing this art on the public stage and you only get one shot at
it.”

The competition is also a race, Neyland said in a 2012 film by
Second Act (http://yhoo.it/wRcp6h). “There's a 65-hour competition period and
it's a pretty grueling, hardworking 65 hours.”

The last night — Friday,
Jan. 25 — is said to be one of the best times to visit, as the artists prepare
to stay up the whole night to finish final detail work on their
sculptures.

By Friday, too, Neyland said the sculptures start to sing.
“When the internal form of the sculpture is exposed to the cold night air, it
cures. The whole sculpture starts to turn into a crystalline structure,” he
said. “When my teammate is 10 feet away and I can hear and feel the strikes of
his chisel at the base, it's because it's become a crystalline structure. It's
still fragile but very solid. It's truly a remarkable thing.”

Guests are
invited to view the entire process, from the sculptures' creation through the
weeklong viewing of finished sculptures Jan. 27-Feb. 3. At night, the white
pieces glisten, lit up by eco-friendly LED lighting.

International stage

Teams are selected
by committee from a pool of applicants based on their performance in other snow
sculpting competitions, the designs they submit and other considerations. This
year, 16 teams were chosen from a pool of 42 applicants. It's the widest and
most diverse field from the largest group of applicants yet, said Rachel
Zerowin, spokesperson for the Breckenridge Resort Chamber.

Among the
competitors are an all-female team, new from Argentina, that will sculpt a
caracol, or snail. Other countries new to the competition are Iceland,
Singapore, Ecuador and Mongolia. They join teams from Australia, Baltic
(Latvia/Estonia), Canada-Yukon, Catalonia-Spain, China, Germany, Great
Britain-Wales, Mexico, USA-Alaska and USA-Breckenridge.

Some, like
Mexico, practice and compete in sand, so they have to translate their skills to
snow upon arrival in Breck.

“I must say that I have the greatest of
respect for people that perform this art form in sand,” Neyland said. “Sand is a
very different medium. Snow is pretty solid. Sand, you basically pile up and go
from the top down. You don't really get the chance to go back and mess with
it.”

After coming to the Breckenridge event for a few years, Team Mexico
took first place in 2011. “I called them out as most improved team,” Neyland
said. “They obviously came with their eyes open; they took notes and learned and
came back and applied that. In 2011 they pulled out an absolutely stunning
piece. They came from a no-snow environment and cut their teeth on that art form
in Breck.”

This year Team Mexico will sculpt “Whal-e,” a mechanical
whale composed of plates, rivets, a gear system and a navigation controller. The
message is about the superiority of natural over mechanical beauty, and the need
to solve global warming.

Team Iceland brings “Lopapeysa,” a ball-shaped
snow house with windows in the pattern of a traditional Icelantic sweater.

From the U.S. come Team Alaska as well as Breckenridge's homegrown team
of Tom Day, Tim West and Margo Jerkovitz, led by Keith Martin. The local team is
creating “8 Seconds to Glory,” a bull and rider inspired by Breck's new summer
rodeo.

Last year Team Canada-Québec took first place with “Great
Expectations,” a sculpture of Quebec's ice harvesting history. The piece also
won the Artists' Choice and People's Choice awards. Second place went to Team
Germany for “Dancing Screens,” an angular, abstract work in snow symbolizing how
interpretations change with perspective, intended to highlight the need for a
critical point of view in today's media-driven world. Team Baltic
(Latvia-Estonia) took third with “Discover the Edge of the World,” and the Kids'
Choice award went to Team Alaska for “The Deadliest Catch: Calamari's Revenge,”
in which the mighty beast pulled a ship into the depths of the
ocean.

This year's winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 27,
along with the Artists' Choice award and the voter-driven People's Choice and
Kids' Choice awards. There are no cash prizes, only recognition within and
beyond the snow sculpting community.

Amenities

New for 2013, folks can
follow the teams online and see the submission sketches at BreckConnection.com,
along with daily photo updates at Facebook.com/GoBreck. Also new are activities
like photography workshops, a VIP party, the opportunity to host a team for a
day and a snow sculpture gift pack — which can be purchased in conjunction with
lodging for an extra-participatory experience, Zerowin explained. For info,
visit GoBreck.com or call (800) 462-7325 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting(800) 462-7325 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting .

Inside the Riverwalk Center, the Snow Lounge offers warmth and comfy
leather sofas, a store featuring keepsakes like pins, postcards and posters, an
exhibit exploring the last two decades of snow sculpture championships and the
snow-sculpting process, and voting boxes for the People's Choice ($1 donation)
and Kids' Choice awards. The Ice Village, on the Riverwalk Center lawn, displays
ice carvings.

“Rarely does the public get to see the living act of
sculptures performed,” Neyland said. “Generally you see the sculpture when it's
done. The thing that's so incredible about this art form is that people
literally get to see the transformational act of the birth of these sculptures.
(The artists) start with a 20-ton block of snow and literally release the
sculpture that lies within that block of snow — not unlike Michelangelo's famous
quote, ‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.'”